m is locked. The Tsar Maiden pursues the thief, but does not
succeed in catching him. He is killed, however, by his elder brothers,
who "cut him into small pieces," and then take the flask of magic
water to their father. The murdered prince is resuscitated by the
mythical bird known by the name of the _Zhar-Ptitsa_, which collects
his scattered fragments, puts them together, and sprinkles them first
with "dead water" and then with "live-water,"--conveyed for that
purpose in its beak--after which the prince gets up, thanks his
reviver, and goes his way.[308]

In one of the numerous variants of the story in which a prince is
exposed to various dangers by his sister--who is induced to plot
against his life by her demon lover, the Snake--the hero is sent in
search of "a healing and a vivifying water," preserved between two
lofty mountains which cleave closely together, except during "two or
three minutes" of each day. He follows his instructions, rides to a
certain spot, and there awaits the hour at which the mountains fly
apart. "Suddenly a terrible hurricane arose, a mighty thunder smote,
and the two mountains were torn asunder. Prince Ivan spurred his
heroic steed, flew like a dart between the mountains, dipped two
flasks in the waters, and instantly turned back." He himself escapes
safe and sound, but the hind legs of his horse are caught between the
closing cliffs, and smashed to pieces. The magic waters, of course,
soon remedy this temporary inconvenience.[309]

In a Slovak version of this story, a murderous mother sends her son
to two mountains, each of which is cleft open once in every
twenty-four hours--the one opening at midday and the other at
midnight; the former disclosing the Water of Life, the latter the
Water of Death.[310] In a similar story from the Ukraine, mention is
made of two springs of healing and life-giving water, which are
guarded by iron-beaked ravens, and the way to which lies between
grinding hills. The Fox and the Hare are sent in quest of the magic
fluid. The Fox goes and returns in safety, but the Hare, on her way
back, is not in time quite to clear the meeting cliffs, and her tail
is jammed in between them. Since that time, hares have had no
tails.[311]

On the Waters of Strength and Weakness much stress is laid in many of
the tales about the many-headed Snakes which carry off men's wives and
daughters to their metallic castles. In one of these, for instance,
the golden-haired Queen Ana